The General's Agenda
by inxpitter
Summary: A short story about General Ironwood's intentions in Vale (surprisingly, not a select-able character yet). All feedback is welcome, including critical and reactions. I do not own RWBY.


As General Ironwood made his way off the hovercraft, he breathed deeply. The air in Atlas always had a processed feel to it, so the fresh air of Vale was a welcome change. A small pang resonated through his head. He pulled out a small flask from his coat, and quickly took a small sip. The pain began to subside.

"General," a young female clad in the same uniform as Ironwood approached him. "The last of the ships should be approaching and begin offloading soon."

"Excellent," Ironwood coughed harshly. His young face had been drained away from months of constant work and now this.

"Sir, your health?" The young woman was concerned, more than the level a simple lieutenant should be.

"I'm fine Lieutenant Daniels." Iron straightened his posture, and put away his flask. The bitter aftertaste lingered in his mouth making him long for the days when he had actual alcohol on his person.

Daniels gave her commanding officer a hard look.

"Right," she finally said. "At eleven, you have a scheduled meet up with Headmaster Ozpin. If you 'd like, I can run a search for Prototype 01 so you can run diagnostics."

Ironwood shook his head.

"No, no. I think just having the patrols do regular checkups on her will be fine. We need here to get used to acting naturally in a new environment. Just keep me informed if it runs into those Beacon kids again."

"Roger."

Lieutenant Daniels saluted Ironwood, and briskly left to oversee the last of the arriving ships. Ironwood decided a walk around the city would do his body some good.

The citizens of Vale were a peaceful people, and Ironwood respected that. Though, he could never imagine living here away from his factories, projects, and creations. Well, perhaps retirement.

As he continued down the street, he could tell he was attracting attention. He smiled and waved as he had at so many press conferences, giving the image of a cheerful worker of the future rather than an ailing middle-aged man. A young woman approached him.

"Hello miss," Ironwood greeted, still smiling. "Is there something I can do for you?"

She didn't respond. She lifted her umbrella and pointed to the entrance of a bookstore.

"Torchwick," she whispered. She promptly walked over to the store's entrance and motioned him to follow.

The store looked like it had been abandoned. A thin layer of dust covered the displays and there were several piles scattered. Ironwood frowned as he looked to the man who was leaning counter.

"Ironwood! It's good to see you!"

Roman Torchwick had his fake cheeriness as always, but the General was in no mood to play along today.

"What's the meaning of this," he asked, looking around. It seemed secure enough. "I thought I told you to never contact me in public."

"Don't be such killjoy."

Torchwick motioned to the young woman who had brought him to the building.

"Neo here will make sure no one even saw you enter the building."

Ironwood looked at Neo, doubtful, but he also knew Torchwick was a careful man. If he felt he was safe, Ironwood was probably too.

"Alright," Ironwood agreed, "so what was so important that you needed my attention personally?"

Torchwick tossed him a large rolled up paper. Ironwood caught it cleanly, and unrolled it, his eyes widened.

"Where did you get this?" he demanded.

"Tut tut," Torchwick said, "I'm well aware you use your automatons to check on me, do you honestly think I wouldn't have a mole or two in Atlas?"

Ironwoods grip tightened, his fingers almost punching through the storng paper. Only those at the highest security clearance had access to the design plans for the Atlesian Paladin, but here it was in his hands. The official Atlas mark in the corner confirmed it was an original copy.

"You've been holding out on me," Torchwick stated, faking shock. "To think you had such nice toys hidden away."

"The Atlesian Paladin has just come out of the prototype stage, and will be used to defend the people."

"Of course," Torchwick agreed, "but it might make my job a little easier if I had one of these to show off to the White Fang."

Ironwood paused. Torchwick wasn't going to drop the issue, and he wouldn't normally ask for something of this caliber if he didn't need the show of force. The General pulled out his personal scroll.

"Container 17 E," he stated calmly. "I'll arrange for lax security, a few of the older model Atlesian Knights. If I hear anything about civilian casualties-"

"You won't," Torchwick assured him, as he checked his scroll for the codes Ironwood had just sent."

"If that's all," Ironwood cast a glance to Neo, busying herself with a book from a display, "I'll be leaving."

"Oh, one more thing."

Ironwood stopped and turned to face Torchwick.

"Is there any other projects I should be aware of?" Torchwick asked. "I've recently had some contact with some odd technology. It'd be nice to know what not to destroy."

"No. Now if you'll excuse me…"

Ironwood left, closing the door to the bookstore behind him. Realizing he was late for his meeting with Ozpin, he briskly walked towards the Academy. While he would help Torchwick achieve their common goals, he would not compromise his life's greatest creation.

"Daniels, respond," Ironwood spoke into his scroll.

"Yes General."

"Run a check to find Penny. It's not for diagnostics, but it would put my mind at ease if I knew it wasn't in any trouble."

"And Daniels?"

"Yes sir?"

"Make sure it is performing as instructed and does not interact with the Beacon children."

"Of course sir."

Ironwood put his scroll away, his mind heavy with doubts. Penny was becoming more of a person every day. While that was the final goal in mind, it would make it much harder for it in the future. War was never kind to those with a young heart, and Penny may have to learn that the hard way.

"War is coming," he muttered under his breath, "and I'm going to be ready for it."

* * *

**Author's note:**

Thanks for reading! Unfortunately, I don't see the series going in this direction but wouldn't it be neat if this happened? Anyway, hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
